New Concept Art: "Anima I"

[Mark] For some reason, I woke up this morning at 3:40 and this image was very clear in my head. It wouldn't go away, so I just got up and started sketching. Usually, when I try to draw something I've dreamed, the results aren't that close to what I saw in my head. I've had a few successes, but this is the most accurate one so far.

I actually "inquired of the muse" at every stage of the process, asking what kind of paper I should use, what sort of pencil, and even where I should sit. Then, as I was drawing, I kept checking to see if I was getting the shapes right, whether there were other things I was forgetting, and how each bit should be finished. It was a fascinating process! There are other elements to the complete image (she's knee deep in a swamp and gesturing toward something), but this figure was the most important one. I've been working on it most of the day. When I figure out what to do with the rest, I'll post. In the meantime, here's the concept art for "Anima I."

In case you're wondering: no, those aren't tentacles, worms or snakes. They flow, but they don't wriggle. They're both part of the head dress and part of her actual physical self--which parts are which, I'm not actually sure, though.

New Artwork: "The Watchers"

Mark has created five complete images along a single theme, all in less than a week--highly unusual behavior for a guy who usually does "one-offs." Above is a quick view of one of the drawings.

For a look at the whole series and to read the story of how they came about, read on!

New Original Music: Awakening

[Posted by Mark]

Ping has been experiencing some profound things recently and just being around her as she goes through this has a certain effect on me. When we remember that we're all one, that's not too surprising, but to experience it in such an uncanny way is ...well, uncanny.


One evening, I just opened a project in my music program, Reaper, and started composing. Within a couple of hours, I had the beginnings of a piece that, to me, seemed rather unexpected. Ping heard an early version of the basic themes and said: "That sounds very much like what I'm going through!"

Over the last five days, I've spent hours and hours honing the composition and refining the arrangement. Early yesterday morning, it was done. It's just under 4 minutes long. Click on the image (above) to hear "Awakening" on YouTube. I can hear some connection to other pieces I've written, but for me this one is in a class by itself.

Read more details about the composition process below.

The Cole-Bear Report: Mass Kundalini Awakening in Airport Waiting Area

Dateline: Saturday 12/22/2012 Taipei, Taiwan

Approximately 500 people waiting to board Guru Airlines Flight 1222 bound for Tokyo have apparently experienced what some experts have called a "mass kundalini awakening."

At precisely 12:22 PM, in what one passenger from the USA whose name we could not understand, described as "the weirdest gosh-darn thing you ever saw," an entire waiting room of passengers spontaneously and simultaneously began performing seemingly random, highly complex and difficult physical movements.

A group of yoga experts waiting for their flight in an adjacent area immediately identified the movements as typical of "kundalini yoga," which one described as "a physical and spiritual experience where blocked energy is released so it can flow freely through the entire system."

Passengers who experienced it described it variously as "cool," "strenuous," "fascinating," "curious," and "Dude! Like, whoa!" According to all involved, no one got hurt, a fact which passersby such as M. Simpson of Springfield, USA, considered "amazing."

Through an interpreter, Kuang Chen-Shin of Taipei said it was "like modern dance...only weirder." Kuang said she was still feeling the urge to "breathe funny" but that the feelings apparently calmed down when the announcement to board was made.

Buford Mortimer of Alabama, USA, said: "I always thought 'kundalini' was some sort of pasta dish, but I woulda had it without the 'coon anyways, 'cause I'm a vegetarian."

Another passenger also waiting to board Flight 1222, Mr. E. Scrooge, from London, England, insisted that the entire experience was either "too much Christmas cheer" or perhaps "nothing but a bit of bad beef." When others did not corroborate Mr. Scrooge's explanation, he replied: "Bah, humbug."

;-)

Poem: The Measure of Success

The Measure of Success

by Mark Ivan Cole

Massive limbs, all bleached and dry,
  lie cracked and broken on the ground,
     the evidence of vast expansion
         long ago, before the storm.
A brittle bark now peels away
  from half the trunk that towers still,
    despite its many amputations.
The crown is gone, its glory shorn,
    and roots lie rotting down below.
I will not mourn this ancient oak
  for still a stream of life runs strong
    from base to tip, from root to bud,
      and every Spring, its rush of green
        drinks in the sun for one more year,
            for one more season,
              each new leaf, a grand achievement.

Tree Huggers

People who have spent time in Oregon (and California), as we have, are sometimes jokingly referred to as "tree huggers." We accept the title happily. We actually do hug trees. Here's some evidence of our arboreal affections: two pictures of the same massive pine in California's Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Park.

We had hiked out on the Woods Canyon trail to see one of the many waterfalls in the park. "The Sphinx" stood in silent vigilance due south of us. You can see its twin-peaked summit on the right side of the picture. Great cliffs and spires of granite rose to the heavens all around us. If you look closely, you can even see Ping at the bottom of the tree, giving it a hug.

Sometimes it's good to get this kind of perspective. Yes, we are very, very small, but our attitude toward our environment can have a huge impact. How are we caring for our surroundings?

Every once in awhile, when we see a tree, we think about how it holds rainwater before shedding it, how passing underneath its broad branches cools us on a hot day. The tree is both habitat and food for all kinds of creatures. We think it's pretty amazing that it just stands there, takes care of itself, and helps everyone else breathe a little easier, just by being alive.


Consider this 2005 Ted talk by architect William McDonough, one of the authors of "Cradle to Cradle."  It was one of the things that got us thinking about how we can change our impact. Check out his very quick description of the design concept behind a tree around the 11:00:00 mark.

Gotta love a tree!

"When You Don't Have A Garbage Disposal, You Eat A Lot More Crumbs"

We used to have a garbage disposal. Every house in the States seems to have one. It's that big monster thing that growls under the drain in the kitchen sink, chewing up every little scrap that you didn't eat off the plate, sometimes grinding away at orange peels and melon rinds.

We don't have one here. Instead, we have a little basket in that great big hole. That's so all the stuff that USED to feed the garbage disposal monster doesn't just clog the relatively light duty Taiwanese drainage system. Whatever is too big to wash off the plate, we have to toss into our kitchen garbage bucket which has to be dumped by hand (i.e., by Mark) into a sometimes overflowing public bin on garbage nights.

Cleaning soggy bits out of the little basket is kind of a pain, so we've gotten used to pre-cleaning the previously disposal-worthy fodder off of our plates before we wash the dishes. It's surprising how much material we used to wash away! Now we eat virtually every crumb--at least when we don't have company. It's easier than cleaning out the basket or scraping stuff into the garbage bucket. Plus, some of those bits are pretty tasty!

It's also one more reminder of how abundantly we are supplied with food.

If you have a garbage disposal, what would you do differently if you didn't have one?

Oh, one more thing: we've gotten so good at pre-cleaning our plates that we don't have to clean that basket very often. In fact, Mark went to clean it recently and discovered a healthy crop of soybeans...well, okay, one soybean, but it had a very vigorous little sprout.

(Yes, he's cleaning the basket more often now.)